_________________"Good teams don't worry about a whole lot of stuff. They travel, they play, they win. And it doesn't matter where they go, what the time block is, all those kinds of things. They never seem to bother teams that play well, and we want to be one of those teams." -Jim Caldwell

One interesting name boiled up Tuesday relative to the Detroit Lions' search to replace fired coach Jim Schwartz.

NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reports that the Lions are doing background work on Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach and offensive line coach Tom Cable, per a source with knowledge of the team's thinking.

Cable spent two full seasons as the Oakland Raiders' coach (2009-2010) after taking over as interim when Lane Kiffin was fired in 2008. He compiled a 17-27 record in Oakland, but might be better known to the public for an alleged altercation with an assistant, for which he was cleared.

According to Rapoport, those close to Cable view him as the NFL's most misunderstood assistant, given the incident in Oakland.

"(Cable is a) really good motivator," one Seattle source told Rapoport. "Strong with his beliefs. A really good teacher."

After firing Schwartz, Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand discussed the desire for a coach that can "change the culture" of their team.

The Lions' brass said previous head coaching experience is one of the criteria they will use in finding Schwartz's replacement, but it won't be the main characteristic considered.

An official request has not yet been made by the Lions to interview Cable, Rapoport reported.

Lovie Smith spent nine years in the NFC North as head coach of the Chicago Bears. His next coaching job may also reside in the black-and-blue division.

According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Smith is expected to interview for the head coaching job for the Detroit Lions. The Lions fired Jim Schwartz as head coach on Monday.

The story cites John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance that promotes diversity in the NFL, in the expectation that Smith will interview in Detroit.

“We have a great relationship (with Lions general manager Martin Mayhew) and it’s been that way for a long time,” Wooten said. “We talk every week. We don’t just talk when disaster comes, we talk all the time.”

Smith compiled a 81-63 record and won the NFC North three times in nine seasons as head coach of the Bears, including an appearance in Super Bowl XLI.

Add former Colts head coach Jim Caldwell to the list of names mentioned in connection with the Detroit Lions’ head coaching vacancy.

Caldwell, currently the Ravens’ offensive coordinator, is thought to be on the Lions’ list, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

The pros for Caldwell in Detroit are easy to see. For starters, his experience as an assistant is with coaching quarterbacks and receivers, and coordinating pass-first offenses, and the Lions want a coach who can take Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson and turn them into the focal points of a high-scoring offense. There’s also the fact that Caldwell has been the head coach of a team that got to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and a high-ranking assistant on Super Bowl-winning teams with both the Colts and the Ravens. He has experience with winning teams.

But the problem is that Caldwell hasn’t yet shown that he can be a successful head coach without a great quarterback already in place. When Caldwell had Peyton Manning in 2009 and 2010, he went 14-2 and 10-6. But when Caldwell lost Manning to a neck injury in 2011, his team collapsed to 2-14. The Lions don’t need a coach who can win with a fully formed franchise quarterback like Manning. The Lions need a coach who can take Stafford and turn him from what he is now (a talented but error-prone passer) into a franchise quarterback.

The Lions would love to find a coach who can make Stafford look like Manning. The question about Caldwell as a potential coach of the Lions is whether Manning became the quarterback he is because of Caldwell’s coaching, or whether Caldwell was just lucky enough to get hired by a team that had Peyton Manning.